


it's all fun and games (until it's not)

by dearfelix



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, hyunlix royalty au bc they keep calling each other princes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 13:50:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14695499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearfelix/pseuds/dearfelix
Summary: “What’re you ignoring me for? Still bitter about losing the latest horse race to me?”Spluttering, Felix spun around and backed away slightly to create some distance. “Hwang Hyunjin, you take that back! I didn’t lose. It was rigged, okay? All the tournaments in Sokor are rigged.”Or, where Felix and Hyunjin are princes from rival nations who love [to compete with] each other.





	it's all fun and games (until it's not)

**Author's Note:**

> a long overdue hyunlix royalty au for the birthday princess [jilix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilix).
> 
> UNEDITED! i'll come back and edit it later i promise!

 

 

 

“Prince Felix, _please_ ,” a servant begged desperately as he chased the platinum blonde streak around the large bedroom. Felix, half dressed in formal attire, giggled as he avoided the servant’s grabby hands. “You have to put on this sash. How else will the attendees from other nations recognize you if they can’t see your royal crest?”

 

“Everyone knows the Kingdom of Oceania and everyone who needs to know me, knows me,” Felix griped but nevertheless ended the servant’s suffering and donned the velvet maroon sash. Right in the center was displayed the Lee family’s crest of a _koala_ and _kangaroo_ , of all things. It was over dramatic and embarrassing, to say the least.

 

He blamed Prince Chan, the crown prince of Oceania and his only brother. Chan had taken an interest in art last year and their doting father had eagerly given him the chance to redesign their centuries old crest. Felix had almost demanded a duel to the death right then and there when his brother gleefully revealed the new crest.

 

A few moments later, a knock sounded on his door and a maid peeked her head in at his assent. She ushered him out frantically, exclaiming that he was late for the Spring Ball. _Why are you always late? You were supposed to be at the ballroom half an hour ago! His majesty is going to kill me!_

 

Felix groaned as he followed the nagging maid to a far wing of the castle, music from a string quartet floating through the wide hallways. “You’ll be fine, my parents are too nice for their own good.”

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing the young prince did when he entered the magnificently decorated ballroom was greet his parents—as expected, they only mildly scolded him for running late—before making a beeline for the refreshments table. He had tried to swipe a glass of champagne from the tray of a hovering servant on the way, but given how swiftly he was refused, _don’t give the underage prince alcohol no matter how much he complains and whines_ was probably the first chapter of the training handbook given to all Lee family servants.

 

“Knew I’d find you by the food.”

 

Felix didn’t have to turn around to know who that boyish voice belonged to, so he didn’t. He kept his back to the taller figure behind him and kept munching on the hor d'oeuvres piled high on his porcelain plate, only pausing when he felt a large hand press insistently on the small of his back. He felt the figure crowd in on him and lean in, breath hot against his ear.

 

“What’re you ignoring me for? Still bitter about losing the latest horse race to me?”

 

Spluttering, Felix spun around and backed away slightly to create some distance. “Hwang Hyunjin, you take that back! I didn’t lose. It was rigged, okay? All the tournaments in Sokor are rigged.”

 

Hyunjin, or rather, Prince Hyunjin, fourth in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Sokor, stood before him, snickering at his indignation. “Spreading lies like that about my nation is treason, y’know.”

 

“Then report me, your most royal and noble and mighty of highnesses.”

 

“You’re even more annoying than the last time I saw you.”

 

“You act like you were away on that dumb quest for years or something—it’s been like one month.”

 

“A month is the longest you’ve gone without seeing me for a while though,” Hyunjin sing-songed. “Just drop the act and admit you missed me.”

 

The blonde prince studied the other boy. In the short period since they’d last met at the horse races, over the course of a month-long dragon slaying quest, Hyunjin had somehow put on a few centimeters of height as well as a good amount of lean muscle, now tall and broad enough to comfortably tuck Felix head under his chin, against his chest...probably. As always, his hair was as black as the midnight sky and his equally dark eyes seemed to penetrate through Felix, seeing something beyond what he wanted others to see. It made him feel vulnerable but he didn’t dislike it too much.

 

“Maybe-” Felix’s voice was pitched higher than usual so he quickly cleared his throat, returning it to its usual deep bass. “Maybe I missed you. A little.”

 

“I missed you too. You look really good tonight, like an angel.” Hyunjin said in a hushed tone. The prince of Oceania self-consciously tugged at the large maroon bow at his neck, feeling his face heat up at the compliment. Hyunjin’s sharp gaze was still on him, looking his pure white—save for his velvet sash and bow—attire and robes up and down.

 

“You too,” Felix stuttered out. He was telling the truth, much to his chagrin. The taller boy was dressed in head to toe black, creating a slim and sophisticated silhouette, with a large indigo cape flowing down from his wide shoulders. He looked princely, no, he looked like a king. Felix shook away the image of Hyunjin wrapping them both up in that cape, nice and warm, before it could fully implant itself in his mind.

 

Hyunjin’s grin spread from ear to ear and he reached out to embrace the smaller boy but was interrupted by a stern _ahem_. Both princes swiveled around to see Prince Chan, flanked by Hyunjin’s five brothers and Prince Jisung, the sole heir to the Kingdom of Malaya. Hyunjin let his arms drop to his sides.

 

“Hyunjin, are you bothering my baby brother? Or are you two finding some way to make this lovely evening into another competition?” Chan asked with a roll of his eyes.

 

It wasn’t an unexpected question. Felix and Hyunjin were born in the same year and had grown up together, along with the other seven boys currently surrounding them; however, sometime between kindergarten and third grade, they had developed an at-times-healthy, at-times-unhealthy obsession with one-upping each other.

 

On the one hand, the competitiveness pushed them to go one-two in every subject at their private boarding school, excel in royal extracurriculars, and generally go above and beyond. On the other hand, they were constantly at each other’s throats, although outsiders would point out that, for some reason, they had toned it down in recent years.

 

Felix attributed their rivalry to the fact that Oceania and Sokor were rival nations due to their large trading ports, to which Hyunjin would reply that Felix just had an inferiority complex, to which Felix would reply that Hyunjin was just obsessed with him, to which...it went on and on.

 

“Now that you mention it,” Felix said, slinging an arm around Hyunjin’s shoulders (and astutely ignoring the fact that he had to go on tiptoes to do so), “We haven’t. Yet. What do you say, Jinnie, shall we engage in some friendly competition at this snooze of a ball?”

 

Hyunjin nodded, never one to turn down a bet. The other boys looked on in interest. Felix thought for a moment before a sly smirk made its way onto his face.

 

“How about this—we see who can get the most girls’ names and kingdoms in the next hour. Double points if you speak to a princess. Winner gets to ask the loser to do anything.”

 

A strange look passed over the dark haired prince’s face, out of place compared to his usual carefully pleasant expressions, but it was gone in an instant. Seungmin, Hyunjin’s only brother who was of the same age and therefore his closest confidant, looked ready to protest, whispering an almost inaudible _but Jinnie is g-_ , but the fourth prince shushed him with a pointed glare. Felix watched their whole exchange with interest. Hyunjin was hiding something and he would find out what it was soon. But first, the competition.

 

“So what do you say?” He nudged his friend-slash-rival.

 

“Winner can have the loser do _anything?_ ”

 

Felix hummed in confirmation. Under the expectant eyes of their friends and Chan’s narrowed gaze, Hyunjin finally agreed. “It’s a deal.”

 

 

 

 

 

For the next hour or so, Felix and Hyunjin flitted about among the colorful gowns and extravagant headdresses milling about, talking up the gathered nations’ most beautiful and powerful young women. Halfway through the hour, Felix began to regret proposing this particular challenge for several reasons:

 

One, although he was energetic, talkative, and loud with his family and friends, he was quite introverted by nature. He always had a lot to say but actually saying it took a lot of effort. He had to prepare himself mentally before approaching strangers and, afterward, he needed time alone to regroup and rest.

 

This made speaking to young women he barely knew a rather tiring exercise. He found himself taking breaks between each conversation, usually finding refuge back at the refreshments table.

 

Two, Felix felt like he was constantly being watched. Every time he turned around, he was met with the sight of the back of Hyunjin’s head, pieces of hair still sticking out from swiveling his head back around too fast.

 

Hyunjin was usually extremely focused, blinders on, so it irked him that his rival seemed distracted today. Where was the fun in completing if both their hearts weren’t into it?

 

Three, unbeknownst to most, he had no interest in speaking to girls. Casual conversation was fine but any degree of flirtation made him squirm, in an unpleasant way. To add to this misfortune, the noble girls and princesses he was speaking to didn't seem to be picking up on his subtle attempts to ward off their interest.

 

He could only helplessly explain to them that he was trying to win a bet, putting him at the receiving end of a few glares and angry huffs—probably not great for foreign relations.

 

Four, he was wasting part of his evening noting down names and kingdoms he didn't care to know when, instead, he could have been catching up with Hyunjin. As much as Felix hated to admit it, he had missed the dark haired prince a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

After "losing" at the Annual Sokor Horse Racing Tournament, Felix had been pulled into a dark corner of the royal stables, where Hyunjin solemnly told him that he was accompanying his eldest brother, Crown Prince Woojin, on his first ever quest. Felix had zoned out as Hyunjin rambled on, their close proximity in the dark corner shutting down the part of his brain that processed words, until he heard _dragon_.

 

"Dragon!? That's dangerous!"

 

Hyunjin had smirked at him and leaned in, their faces close enough for Felix to see his own reflection in the dark eyes in front of him. He had felt trapped in the other's eyes in more ways than one. "What, are you worried for me?"

 

"As if, I hope the dragon burns you to a crisp."

 

"Really?" Hyunjin had drawn in _even closer,_ breath tickling the tip of Felix’s nose.

 

Felix's cheek had been steadily turning rosy. Instead of snarking back like usual, his mouth had pulled into a frown. "I'm kidding, obviously. You better come back safe and sound in one piece or I'm never speaking to you ever again, you hear?"

 

"I mean, I'd be dead anyway," The Prince of Sokor had teased but hurried on in a more serious tone when he saw the real worry on Felix's face. "I'll come back to you. I swear on my family's honor."

 

 

 

 

 

So, Felix had spent the ensuing weeks in a slump. Without Hyunjin to push him at every finish line, he had found it difficult to fully enjoy his top ranks at the academy or the new archery medal added to his extensive trophy collection.

 

He had tried filling the empty spot next to him by hanging out more with Jisung, his other best friend, but the crown prince of Malaya slept through class and adamantly avoided any activities that required physical exertion.

 

At some point, Felix had received a bulky package from a messenger bearing the crest of the Hwang family of Sokor. Upon tearing it open, he had been met with a polished white slab—the tooth of a slain dragon. He had been too busy feeling relieved, knowing Hyunjin had bested the dragon, to fully comprehend that the hefty tooth was a quest spoil.

 

Princes only sent quest spoils to the princesses they were courting.

 

 

 

 

  
  
“Ten minutes to go. What’s your tally?”

 

Felix looked down at the parchment clutched in his hands, where he had noted down the names and kingdoms he collected. “Well, there’s princesses Mina, Momo, and Sana from the Kingdom of Japone; princess Tzuyu from the Kingdom of Wantai; princess Somi, whose lineage makes her the princess of the Kingdoms of Nethers _and_ Canaland, which is like four points-”

 

“So how many points in total?” Hyunjin cut him off impatiently. Felix looked up in surprise. Hyunjin sounded irritated and his face was screwed into a grimace, like he had eaten something sour.

 

“Sixteen,” Felix said carefully.

 

“Mostly princesses?”

 

“Yeah, I guess?”

 

“That’s a lot. Was it fun, flirting with all of them?”

 

Felix narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t like Hyunjin to speak so aggressively to him, even when they were on opposing sides of a match. “I wasn’t flirting with them.”

 

“ _Sure_ you weren’t…”

 

“Hey, it’s just a friendly competition. What are you getting all annoyed for?” The blonde prince shot back; he then lightly placed a hand on the other boy’s arm, dancing his fingers along the goosebumps that were forming. That seemed to do the trick. The unfamiliar sneer on Hyunjin’s face relaxed into a slight frown and he stopped interrogating Felix, instead staring at the prince of Oceania in silence. After a few long seconds, Felix pulled his hand away and rested it awkwardly against the velvet bow that suddenly seemed too tight around his neck. He cleared his throat to fill the continued silence.

 

“Anyway, uh, how many points are _you_ at?”

 

“Sixteen as well.”

 

“What!?” Felix exclaimed. He was already turning away, eyes searching for a girl he hadn’t spoken to yet, preferably a princess. “There’s only five minutes-”

 

Before he could run off, a maid with his family’s crest on her collar walked up to them and gave a low curtsy. “His majesty and the queen request your presence.” She pointed across the ballroom to where his parents were speaking to another royal couple; he spotted a shockingly pretty princess around his age standing to the side. Felix stomach sank, already able to guess what his parents needed him for but no one turned down a request from the king and queen of Oceania, not even their own sons.

 

“I guess you win this one,” Felix grumbled to Hyunjin, whose eyes hadn’t strayed from him throughout the entire conversation, before following the maid away.

 

 

 

 

 

Felix tried his best to be amiable and sweet to the girl his parents were introducing him to, really, he tried his absolute best.

 

As it turned out, she wasn’t a princess, but rather the eldest daughter of the most powerful noble family in Sokor— _Shin Ryujin, but call me Jinnie_ , she said by way of introduction. At that point, Felix needed to fight to keep the genial smile on his face from slipping. He already had a Jinnie so who was she to demand that he call her Jinnie too?

 

For the rest of the conversation, the young prince focused on a spot next to her perfect nose and let his mind wander, nodding occasionally as she went on and on about how much she hated studying ancient texts, probably thinking it was a relatable topic for anyone their age. At some point, he wanted to step in and enumerate the merits of reading ancient texts but stopped himself—he almost forgot that only Hyunjin shared in his love for learning anything he could lay on his eager hands on.

 

In short, they were major nerds.

 

Probably sensing his disinterest, his parents let him go without a fuss when he made up a lame excuse about having promised to show a foreign diplomat the royal gardens. _Uh, yeah, uh, he likes plants and, uh, fountains._

 

On his way to the double doors that led outside, Felix made a quick detour to snag Hyunjin by the corner of his cloak. Hyunjin followed him outside wordlessly.

 

 

 

 

  
  
“What was that all about?” The taller prince asked once they were safely within the garden’s maze of ivy-covered stone walls and tall shrubs.

 

Felix sighed, sliding down a wall to sit on the cobblestone path. He hugged his knees up to his chest and laid his head against them. His mask of happy-go-lucky energy was cracking in half to reveal bone-deep exhaustion. “My parents have been trying to set me up with a _nice young lady_ —their words, not mine.”

 

“What for?”

 

“We’re almost eighteen, Jinnie. We’re almost of age to marry.”

 

Just saying those words out loud made the air feel heavier, the dark sky a dome that was shrinking, shrinking, until it threatened to suffocate him. He loosened his velvet bow to try to breathe properly.

 

Felix didn’t realize he was crying until he felt Hyunjin’s comforting presence settle in beside him, sturdy arms reaching out to gather his shaking frame in a warm, soothing hug. Hyunjin held the smaller prince tightly against his chest with his chin resting naturally on the soft blonde locks; when the quiet sobs died down to whimpers and then the occasional sniffle, Hyunjin cocooned them both his thick indigo cloak.

 

“You okay?”

 

Felix nodded but continued to cling onto the body pressed up against his. It felt nice lying against Hyunjin’s chest, in their little cocoon, although he was vaguely aware of the fact that he was almost sitting in the other’s lap.

 

“I don’t want to get married,” he admitted.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Remember what I told last summer, in the back of the archery ring?”

 

Hyunjin gulped visibly. “Yeah. You don’t like girls, like that _._ ”

 

The younger boy hummed in confirmation. Anxiety was bubbling up from the pit of his stomach again.

 

“What if it was a boy?” Hyunjin asked, slowly drawing out his words. “That you marry, I mean.”

 

Felix dug himself deeper into the cocoon before answering—he couldn’t face Hyunjin right now but he didn’t want to separate from him either. “That’d be nice, yeah. Not just any boy but the right boy. I’d like that. It’s not possible but- but in theory.”

 

Felix’s deep voice was barely a whisper and he was only forming half-coherent sentences, but he knew Hyunjin understood him. He always did.

 

Hyunjin understood that he wanted to shout to the world _I’m going to find the right boy for me and marry the heck out of him because I deserve to be happy too_ , understood that, despite that, he kept his mouth shut because it wasn’t possible for him, a member of royalty, to choose his personal happiness over the continuation of his family line, much less the future of his nation.

 

To try to lighten the heavy mood he had brought about, Felix attempted to divert the conversation. “So, did you get one last princess’ information?”

 

Hyunjin looked sheepish. “Somi just happened to pass me so yeah.”

 

“Princess Somi’s really pretty, isn’t she?”

 

“Of course she is, objectively speaking,” the prince of Sokor agreed. “But you- I think you’re prettier.”

 

“Oh...”

 

Hyunjin pulled back slightly, forcing Felix to poke his head out from the safety of the cloak and look at the dark haired prince. “I won so as my reward I can ask you to do anything, right?”

 

Felix didn’t trust his twisted tongue to speak yet so he stayed mute.

 

“Will you let me kiss you?”

 

Wide eyed, the blonde prince was all too aware of his heart rate rapidly picking up speed and his tongue twisting even more in his mouth. His brain was telling him no but every other fiber of his being was glowing with something akin to excitement. On intuition, he squeaked out an _okay_ in the highest pitch his post-pubescent voice had possibly ever emitted.

 

As soon as he gave his assent, Hyunjin gently dragged him forward so he was fully sitting in the taller boy’s lap, legs straddling the latter’s waist. Felix’s gaze never left Hyunjin’s lips—had they always been so thick?—even as he felt his hands being guided to clasp around the other’s neck. Somehow, he felt comfortable and safe being held against Hyunjin’s chest again.

 

Felix watched entranced as the prince of Sokor’s face, flawless in the moonlight, drew ever closer...closer until he finally let his eyes flutter shut in anticipation.

 

Soft lips pressed against his own lightly, hesitantly, at first, a little awkward as their lips slowly aligned, and then- and then he was swept away in a deep, aching, almost desperate kiss that stole his breath away—and nearly his heart as well.

 

(In the back of his mind, Felix couldn’t help but wonder if this was really Hyunjin’s first kiss too because, like, was it normal to be such a naturally good kisser?)

 

It was after forever and no time at all when the addictive pressure left his lips and the hot breath that had intermingled with his own drew away. Felix stayed frozen with his eyes closed, not quite ready to leave the dream-like moment just yet. He felt slightly rough fingers brush against his eyelids and then move down to his cheeks, where they traced wobbly paths from freckle to freckle; his perfect imperfections were faint with just the moonlight to illuminate them.

 

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now,” Hyunjin confessed breathlessly. His voice was laced with jitters but steady in a way that only came from newfound conviction and courage. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you hard right on your pretty lips, my angel.”

 

Tonight, in his pure white garments tinged by deep red velvet, Felix was Hyunjin’s angel, and maybe Hyunjin, draped in shadowy robes of black and blue, was the devil.

 

Felix knew that if he opened his eyes, he would be met with Hyunjin’s dark, dark gaze, but decided to take the dive anyway. What surprised him was the raw tenderness he saw in the other’s honest expression. What surprised him even more was that the look was one Felix had frequently seen cross his longtime rival’s face—had there been this sort of emotion there all this time?

 

“Would you say, maybe, I’m the right boy for you?” Hyunjin continued on.

 

“I- yes, I’d say so,” Felix stammered out, drawing from his own reservoir of conviction and courage.

 

As with many things in his regimented life as royalty, it took for him to vocalize his feelings before they properly settled into his heart. People may call him dense but what they don’t realize is that it was a defense mechanism to protect from unrealistic fantasies that would undoubtedly leave him hurt in the long run.

 

The taller boy suddenly hugged him tightly. “I think you were right all along, Lix. I’m pretty obsessed with you. I don’t know what I’d do without you here to constantly push me to be a better version of who I was yesterday and the day before that. You made me the person I am now and that’s a fact. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

 

“Me too,” Felix giggled and then burrowed further into the hug. “I’m an ultra-competitive asshole because of you so thanks a lot.”

 

“You know what?” Hyunjin went on. “I was miserable throughout the whole dragon quest because I would’ve rather been reading ancient texts in some dusty library with you than been going on the adventure of a lifetime without you. And tonight I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you in the ballroom. At first because you look even more like an angel than usual...and afterward because I couldn’t stand seeing you charming all those girls with your cute smile.”

 

During his rambling, Hyunjin had rested his calloused palm against the back of Felix’s head, pressing the latter’s face into his chest, but then the prince of Sokor gently pulled on the platinum curls of hair so the two were eye to eye to once again.

 

“I like you, Prince Felix. I think I even love you. May I have the honor of courting you?”

 

Perhaps the petite prince should have thought twice, considered his and Hyunjin’s positions within the top tier of society, but shrouded by the quiet of the night and the privacy of the garden maze, those thoughts that choked him like the velvet bow now hanging loosely from his neck fell away one by one. In that almost magical moment, Felix could forget everything.

 

“Not if I court you first!”

 

Well, almost everything.

 

 

 

 

 

It seemed like an eternity and a half later when the two princes finally returned to the ball but no one seemed to have realized they were missing in the first place.

 

The party was still in full swing, full bodied gowns swishing across the marble floor, servants weaving through the crowd with trays of champagne that underage princes very much could _not_ have, and the live string quartet jumping sporadically from upbeat to melancholy and back to upbeat.

 

While Felix and Hyunjin had been hidden away in their dreamy cocoon, life had went on.

 

Their brothers and friends found them by the refreshments table, where Felix was once again popping hors d’oeuvres into his mouth and Hyunjin was snickering at his puffy, food-filled cheeks. Something caught Chan’s sharp eye. “Holding hands?”

 

Hyunjin’s hand tightened around Felix’s before he could pull away. “Lix lost our bet so I’m making him stick to me for the rest of the night.”

 

The group seemed to buy the explanation (except for a smug looking Seungmin, which reminded Felix of the red haired prince’s exchange with Hyunjin when he had proposed their competition earlier that night... _oh_ , “but Jinnie is _gay_ ” is what Seungmin had wanted to say...). They had long grown accustomed to the two princes’ strange antics. Once the boys wandered off, Felix let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

 

“See, it’ll be okay, angel,” Hyunjin mumbled. Felix smiled back—he decided to leave the sarcastic comments about Hyunjin’s new nickname for him for some other time.

 

For once, it wasn’t Felix versus Hyunjin—it was them against the world. Until the day came when they would have to concede defeat to the pressures of family and honor and duty in the name of the royal blood flowing through their veins, they could play this little game of sneaky kisses and subtle touches.

 

If played right, maybe, just maybe, they could even win.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> comments & kudos are appreciated~♡
> 
> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/smileyfelix) / [tumblr](https://smileyfelix.tumblr.com)


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